This August Barbara Bulc joined Kim Polman, co-author of “Imaginal Cells: Visions of Transformation” and co-founder of Reboot the Future, and Paul Polman, former CEO of Unilever, founder of Imagine and Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce, in a full day Masterclass “Leadership and the Golden Rule” for students, social entrepreneurs, executives, academics, researchers and representatives from governments and NGOs.

The Masterclass brought forward the voice of those leaders who are helping redesign the new paradigm in education, by spreading the seeds of future potential. At its core lies the ancient Golden Rule, found in every religion and culture “Treat others and the planet as you would wish to be treated”.

Barbara Bulc, serving also as an Ambassador of Reboot the Future, moderated two panels across generations. The first panel, “A young perspective for future generations” brought together young leaders, the Franklin Masterclass Fellows, exchanging ideas how to give voice and space to young generations shaping together a more sustainable future. In the second panel, “Participative Multistakeholder Leadership”, Barbara led conversation with Paul Polman, Gilbert Ghostine, CEO of the Swiss corporation Firmenich, one of the leading businesses developing technology for social impact in collaboration with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Pio Wennubst of Swiss SDC, Jonas Haertle from the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and Carlo Giardinetti from Franklin University.

Following the Masterclass, Kim Polman and Barbara Bulc, joined by Laura Giadorou-Koch from B-Team, led a Golden Rule Workshop for the class of graduate students students at Franklin University.

The Franklin’s Dean of Executive Education and Global Outreach, Carlo Giardinetti, who initiated this new learning experience, summarized this gathering “Future leaders will have to learn how to learn and unlearn in a much faster and dynamic way than they do today, and this will inevitably lead to an adaptive challenge that requires mindfulness, gentleness, determination and individual personal development.”

The Masterclasses at the Franklin’s Taylor Institute are high-profile events bringing to students and broader community contemporary experts in fields and topics that will define the future of sustainability and economic development in a rapidly-changing business environment. We are looking forward to the next Masterclass in 2020 in continued collaboration with Franklin University and Reboot the Future.

Additional Resources:

Franklin University’s coverage of the Masterclass on August 30, 2019

Golden Rule Workshop